In favor of Gutierre Pérez de Reinoso

On March, 18th, 1151 in Segovia a manuscript saw the light that is of importance to the Reinoso lineage. A document that was kept in the Libro Becerro of the Monastery of Santa María la Real de Aguilar de Campoo during many centuries.

 

The content of said manuscript benefits my ancestor Gutierre Pérez de Reinoso. The manuscript begins with a beautifully designed Christogram in red ink with the form of the inflectional variant of XPS (Christus). The Latin transcription follows:

 

In nomine Domini nostri Ihesu Christi. Decet inter ceteros homines regiam siue imperatoriam precipue potestatem aliquem sibi bene et fideliter seruientem donis remunerare. Eapropter ego Adefonsus, tocius Yspanie imperator, una cum filio meo rege Sanctio uobis Guter Petriz de Rignusu et filiis uestris et omni generationi uestre facio cartam donationis de Ual Buneia et de Uascunculus pro illo pecto dal cuzar quod debui uobis pectare pro illo milite de Aluaro Petriz, qui lidiauit cum uestro milite et ipse Aluarus Petriz debuerat uobis pectare. Et proinde tribuo uobis han hereditatem superius nominatam cum ombnibus suis pertinenciis, ut ab hac die habeatis eam liberam et quietam uos et filiii uestri et omnis generatio uestra et faciatis de ea quiquid uolueritis donando, uendendo uel concambiando cuicumque uolueritis libere et quiete, Si uero in posterum aliquis ex meo uel alieno genere hoc meum factum rumpere temptauerit, sit maledictus et excommunicatus et cum Iuda traditore Domini in inferno damnatus et insuper pariat regie parti M solidos.

Facta carta in Secobia anno tercio quo fuit capta Baecia et Almaria, era MCLXXXVIIII, et quot XVIII marcii. Imperante Adefonso imperatore in Toleto et in Legione, in Gallecia et in Castella, in Naiara et in Saragocia, in Baecia et in Almaria. Garsia, rex Nauarre, tunc temporis uasallus imperatoris. Comes Barchinonensis tunc temporis uasallus imperatoris. 

Ego Adefonsus imperator han cartam, quam fieri iussi, propria manu mea roboro atque confirmo. Rex Sancius, filius imperatoris – cf. Infante domna Sancia, cf. Guter Fernandiz – cf. Senior Furtun Lupiz de Soria – cf. Domnus Berengarius, salmanticensis episcopus – cf. Domnus Enigus, auilensis episcopus – cf. Comes Poncius, maiordomus imperatoris – cf. Nunnus Petriz, alferiz imperatoris – cf. Iohannes Fernandiz, canonicus ecclesie beati Iacobi et scriptor imperatoris; per manum magistri Hugonis cancellarii scripsit.

 

In this manuscript the Emperor Alfonso VII (1105-1157) and his son and rightful heir Sancho III called the Desired (1137-1158), grant the villages of Valbonilla and Basconcillos to Gutierre Pérez de Reinoso as payment for the cuchar (an old measure, it was used in the measure of grains or gold) that Álvaro Pérez owed because Álvaro -apparently advantageously- sent his soldiers to attack those of Gutierre: “…pro illo milite de Aluaro Petriz, qui lidiauit cum uestro milite…”. To prevent further conflict or a retaliation, the king don Alfonso intervened by granting the aforementioned villages to Gutierre.

The witnesses that confirm this manuscript are:

• The princess Sancha (1139-1179), future queen of Navarre by marriage to Sancho VI. Parents of Sancho VII, Fernando, Ramiro bishop of Pamplona, Berenguela wife of the English King Richard the Lionheart, Constanza, Blanca wife of Theobald III of Champagne, and Teresa.
• Gutierre Fernández who I believe is Gutierre Fernández de Castro(1124-1166), the military commander who served the kings mentioned in this manuscript.
• Fortún López de Soria (1110-1168), an aristocrat from Navarre who resided in Castile at the time.
• Berengario, bishop of Salamanca who was transferred to Santiago de Compostela in 1151.
• Íñigo, bishop of Ávila.
• The count Ponce. Ponce II de Cabrera(1105-1162), an aristocrat from Catalonia who became imperial Major Domus of Castile and León in 1145.
• Nuño Pérez (Nuño Pérez de Lara), who was appointed imperial alférez from 1145 to 1155.
• Juan Fernández, priest of the church of Santiago and imperial scribe.

 

It is interesting to mention that in this document the toponymic was latinized as Rignusu and it gives us a good idea of its pronunciation in the 12th century (the modern pronunciation is close to Ray-noh-soh). In my book I wrote that Reynoso and the primitive forms Reinoso and Rinoso (Ree-noh-soh) find their origin in the proto Indo-European particle “reie” that means flow or flow of water. “Reie” has been the basis for words such as the proto-Celtic “Reinos” and the proto-Germanic Rinaz. This particle can also be found in the Rhine river in Germany or the Rinoso lake on the island of Corsica, all of them coinciding with bodies of water or referring to its flow. We can then approach to translate the primitive Reinoso as “river”, “stream” or what is more likely: “place by the water”. In a surprising coincidence the obsolete word rignus found in this latinization of Reinoso was used to describe “moist” or “well watered” derivating from the latin rigare: “to water”.

A final detail that is also worth mentioning is that the manuscript indicates that it was made in Segovia during the third year after the cities of Baeza and Almería were captured by the army of Alfonso VII.